A Personal Reflection and View about Life

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Two Cities of Philosophy

George Bernard Show said, life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. And people create themselves by the principle and values of life they set for themselves in which such principles are found in their own dictionary of life which is their own thinking machinery. When people create themselves, they come up with their own philosophical thinking and understanding about life thru their own personal experience in life. When people find themselves, they search it everywhere by going to churches and other religious and philosophical places which they can find themselves.

When people are finding themselves in their own way, they could set in most case role models for their way of life and they live after the values and principles of such given role models they find in their lives as well. Whereas when people create themselves, roll models are not life and death things since they create themselves in thoughts and they are after ideas even though many people could have influenced and shaped them in many ways, they do not have such role models in their given life. One in her is after idea and thinking, not after any give role model since one lives in the world of thoughts, not after individuals stories and thinking too. One has no role model in life too.

There are two broad views that exist in the world and city of philosophy in which people should differentiate in here due to the fact that they have different natures and characters. The first one is the philosophy which is the academic study of the field such as aesthetics, ethics, epistemology, logic, metaphysics, as well as social and political philosophy. The second one is the philosophical way of life, which is very personal and is derived out of personal experience and exposures of peoples life, is related to the specific problems and solutions individual derive in their daily routine of life. Both are different scopes of philosophical way of life and they should be treated in different manner.

According to an idea which is obtained from the Web on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind and language. The Ancient Greek word was likely coined by Pythagoras and literally means “love of wisdom” or “friend of wisdom. Philosophy has been divided into many sub-fields. It has been divided chronologically (e.g., ancient and modern); by topic (the major topics being epistemology, logic, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics); and by style (e.g., analytic philosophy).

As a method, philosophy is often distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its questioning, critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. As a noun, the term ‘philosophy’ can refer to any body of knowledge. Historically, these bodies of knowledge were commonly divided into natural philosophy, moral philosophy, and metaphysical philosophy. In casual speech, the term can refer to any of “the most basic beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group.

Basically, do we need philosophy and philosophical thoughts in our daily lives? Yes, there is no question about that. But the question could be what type of philosophical thoughts which is the most fundamental and significant matter people should be concerned. Most people confuse philosophical thought with idle thoughts in which they connect like hearing with eyes and seeing with ears as being part of philosophical understating of realities of life, which is indeed wrong and a way most people misunderstood the idea of philosophy by how few people they know in their environments shape the idea of philosophical understanding and with the mindset which they have come across in their life time.

And last time, I met someone in the grocer, while having few beers, the person studied theology and he is inclined to be religious. And we were discussing with the idea of philosophy and the person’s understanding with the idea of philosophy is the fate of few people who have been “in philosophical way of life” and he said, they end up committing suicide and they fall down from 8 floors on the building and the like. And I asked him, what does it mean by having philosophical thinking, and he replied, it is being unrealistic and illusory.

One replied to this person that according to what one has understood in like, being philosophical mean being in the world critical thinking, seeing things in wide perspective and angles, understanding things in different but in realistic manner, seeing things before they come and making the necessary cautions than going by what the mass thinks and go. A person whit philosophical understanding is not like the wave of winds that go by same direction, but rather, one make a pause and think about things in critical manner. One does not need any approval or rejection, vote and friend or enemy to support or oppose ones’ view since in this valley of understanding; people seek and love to be in the city of truth. This needs quite a mindset and it’s not something that everyone on the street and every layman joins and enters.

As per its definition in the above, philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind and language. This means society needs philosophical understanding of nature and character of problems and realities in order to solve social problems which are indeed one of the things every society should figure out. The philosophical solutions are not illusory and imaginary, but rather practical solutions which are realistic and they are made in way they fit to the garment of the society.

This reminds me to an idea I was shared by old professional man in here in few years ago while having coffee in café. The person gave me a useful insight in relation to one’s experience he faced in his life time. And there was a given society who died of hunger since they eat very limited type of ingredients of food. But, such people have something delivered by nature that they can eat in their surrounding since they are not used to such plants in their environs. Here, the problem goes not on what the nature bestows, but the thinking and belief machinery people have in their life time. In this case, the society need courageous people who can change their way of life as there are such people who did such marvelous things in other part of the world. They ask, why, how, when and the like and they find answers in their own way too.

These people are called Revolutionary people or minds. They ask and they come up with change. And they carry philosophical thinking and understanding too. The mass follow them. The philosophical understanding and philosophical way of life of one person could be shared by the mass since it is attractive. In this case, one person’s understanding and philosophical way of life could be the property of the mass and the mass follows one person’s given ideology. Afterwards, such philosophy will be registered in the academic curriculums and schools; schools will start teaching about that given philosophical way of life. These two understanding and philosophical thinking are integrated and connected in these ways and manner. There are two factors that make such things to happen. The first one is time, and the other is peoples’ receptivity.